The Southwest Conference Open Season continued the 10 event tour with event #2 held in feeble but contestable one to two foot surf. It was another jam packed crowd with over 250 surfers contending for prestigious Open ratings points. And because it is the Open Season, the feeble surf didn’t hinder some of the most talented surfers who were consistently putting up high numbers throughout the weekend.

HIGHLIGHTS OF OPEN SEASON EVENT #2

After years of settling for anything but victory, Ricky Whitlock finally lived up to the expectations and proved that he’s one of the best young amateur surfers in the country. At last, he finished the job this past weekend and claimed his first ever Open Men’s win. In tough, kelp infested one to two foot dribblers, Ricky started the final off by getting a good, vertical turn in on his first wave. The scores came in at 5.0 which turned out to be the high scoring ride of the final. His opponents, Dane Ward, Cory Arrambide and Nick Rozsa scratched and clawed for any weak bump coming out of the horizon. Dane did his best to rip a couple turns on the small lines but none matched up to Ricky’s one big maneuver of the heat. Cory surfed up in the Men’s and took an impressive third place with Rozsa taking fourth. Cory dominated the Juniors division winning his second straight of the season. Spencer Regan took second in his first Open final showing followed by Brent Reilly and Dillon Perillo who has been seeing a lot of finals action this season. Kolohe “Brother Andino is off to a tremendous start winning both the Boys and Mini Grom divisions for the second consecutive contest. The Boys division is no cakewalk especially when you’ve got kids like Andrew Doheny and Riley Metcalf who can surf up in the Juniors division and make the quarter-finals as they did this weekend! Riley was consistently putting up high scores including posting a 9.35 in his Boys round one heat. In the final, Riley finished second with Andrew placing third and Ian Crane taking fourth. As previously mentioned, Kolohe was in top form clinching another victory in the Mini Groms. Second place went to Taylor Clark making this his second straight runner up finish. Andrew Jacobson took third and John Elles captured fourth, both groms making their first NSSA Open final! In Women’s action, Courtney Conlogue pulled off her second consecutive Open triumph in a clear cut decision over Lexi Papilion, Danielle Dickerson and Sage Erickson. After years of determination, Christian Wach was beaming when he was announced the winner of the Longboard final. Christian had reason for smiling after putting on a spectacular longboard performance with his top two waves coming in at a near flawless 9.5 and an 8.5 for a finals heat total high of 18.0. Kevin Osborne took second followed by first time Open finalists Chase Stavron and Shane VanHerk.

HIGH SCORING WAVE AND POINT TOTALS OF OPEN SEASON EVENT #2

Ventura local Cory Arrambide took charge in his Juniors round three heat ripping a perfect 10 and backing it up with another nice 8.5 posting up a 18.5 heat total. Heat after heat in both the Men’s and Juniors divisions, Cory’s lightning quick speed and snappy vertical lip bashes were the winning formula on the small lined up shoulders. It became quite clear that Cory was going to be tough to beat, ruling in his own neck of the woods (Cory actually lives up by Rincon but its close enough!). He placed first in four rounds in the Men’s division while having five first place finishes in his Juniors rounds including the final.

COMING UP IN CALI: The NSSA is in full swing annd the October plate is full. A double header is coming up for the Southwest Explorer Season with event #2 on October 9-10 at Trails Beach in the San Onofre State Park and event #3 on October 16-17 at Oceanside South Jetty. The Open Season will embark on Surf City when event #3 comes to the world renowned H.B. Pier on October 23-24. The Gold Coast Conference mid season double pointer event #5 will be held on October at Ventura’s C Street and October madness will get underway as the 2004/05 Southwest College Season kicks off on October 31 at C Street.